Last week I called a client to clarify something about an upcoming tax appeal. During the conversation, he informed me a major donor had just made a gift of $200,000 to the current appeal we had worked on together.

This gift, he said, had the office high-fiving and whooping with joy. I have to admit I, too, was very excited for them.

This $200,000 windfall represented a significant proportion of the income budgeted for the year for this charity. In other words, they’re not a multi-million-dollar non-profit.

BUT… I wanted to point out a few lessons about this particular gift. ...

Sorry to all for not being more regular with posts but I’ve been working very hard on several tax appeals – possibly even yours!

One thing I find very interesting. Sometimes more attention seems to be paid to haggling over minor phrasing than to issues that will actually make the biggest difference to appeal results. Hence this post.

The issues causing me the most concern as I try to get the best possible results for clients are these:

1. Getting appropriate stories and images

For some reason, people seem to think that getting beneficiaries or field workers to say nice ...

In discussions about donor nurture and retention, the concept of the donor journey inevitably comes up.

The “traditional” donor journey is often couched in terms of the donor pyramid. That concept of acquiring donors then thanking and welcoming them. Trying to get second gifts. Then getting higher gifts or converting them to monthly giving. Then eventually turning them into major donors or bequestors.

Of course, not every donor follows this exact path. But the general idea is that you try to move donors from their first, often modest, gifts up the donor pyramid to bequests.

Each fundraising appeal is different. But I find the following seven emotions excellent for motivating donors through direct mail. That’s both for soliciting gifts or nurturing donors so they will give again in future.

One thing to keep in mind is donors are not always consciously aware of their emotions. Particularly with emotions like number 5, you need to be subtle about how you evoke these feelings in your copy.

Anyway, here goes…

1. Outraged. This is straightforward. Get your donor angry over injustice and they will give. Whether it’s cruelty to animals or human trafficking, outrage is a fundraiser’s ...